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John Swarkowski

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John Szarkowski, curator of photography at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Photograph: Eamonn Mccabe

Was John Szarkowski the most influential person in 20th-century photography? via Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian


Is Photography Over?

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Unknown Untitled [Man reflected in mirrors], n.d. Collection SFMOMA


A very interesting symposium at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art:

From SF MOMA Website:

"Photography has almost always been in crisis. In the beginning, the terms of this crisis were cast as dichotomies: is photography science or art? Nature or technology? Representation or truth? This questioning has intensified and become more complicated over the intervening years. At times, the issues have required a profound rethinking of what photography is, does, and means. This is one of those times. Given the nature of contemporary art practice, the condition of visual culture, the advent of new technologies, and many other factors, what is at stake today in seeing something as a photograph? What is the value of continuing to speak of photography as a specific practice or discipline? Is photography over?

SFMOMA has invited a range of major thinkers and practitioners to write brief responses to this question and then to convene for a two-day summit on the state of the medium. Participants include Vince Aletti, George Baker, Walead Beshty, Jennifer Blessing, Charlotte Cotton, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Geoff Dyer, Peter Galassi, Corey Keller, Douglas Nickel, Trevor Paglen, Blake Stimson, and Joel Snyder.

Their texts will be used to kick off a panel discussion Thursday night. The 13 participants will continue the conversation Friday morning in closed-door sessions and will report back in a public session Friday afternoon.

Read the participants' responses to the question here.

SFMOMA, Phyllis Wattis Theater
Thursday, April 22, 7:00 p.m.
Friday, April 23, 2:00 - 5:00 p.m."

UPDATE

This week SFMOMA hosted a major symposium on the current state of the field of photography, with two intensive panel discussions Thursday evening and Friday afternoon. Yesterday's reports are here. The initial texts from the symposium participants are here. Other blog posts addressing the question "Is Photography Over?" can be found here.

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